Work sheet
Technical data
| year | 2023 |
| purchase date | acquired in the portfolio |
| estimated current value in € | consult the updated Price Table |
| identification of the subject | abstract painting/reconstructivist work |
| materials and techniques | oil on canvas/mixed media/material work |
| measurements in centimeters cm | 80 x 60 x 1,8 |
| inscriptions | signature |
| inscription technique | oil |
| inscription position | on the back/bottom/right |
| transcription | Valvo |
| authenticity certificate | issued at the same time as the sale |
| art multiples | no print issued |
| state of conservation | intact work |
| location of the work | Rome · Italy |
| copyright | © all rights reserved · global · S.I.A.E. |
High definition image of the work (enlargeable)
Click on the image of the work to enlarge on the Flickr photographic platform (recommended viewing on a PC screen) ⚠️© Copyright: all rights reserved · S.I.A.E. · Any type of use is prohibited.
The image is watermarked with the site logo
Description of work
Izyum, Ukraine, 2022
Otto Dix, The War, 1929 – 1932.
Carlo Levi, Concentration camp or Dead women (The foreseen concentration camp), 1942.
Aligi Sassu, Civil War (The martyrs of Loreto Square), 1944.
Pablo Picasso, Guernica, 1937.
Izyum, Ukraine, 2022.
As is evident, there is not much to add to thematically frame this important work by Valvo, performed in 2023, the year in which the Russian-Ukrainian clash is still in full swing.
The artist, here, clearly refers to the massacre in Izyum, a city in the Kharkiv oblast, in the eastern part of Ukraine, perpetrated by the Russian army in 2022 against the local civilian population. Right here, over four hundred and forty bodies of defenseless and brutally massacred civilians were buried in a pine forest, through a mass burial. On the other hand, the “mass grave” present in Izyum is only one of the many examples of barbarism intrinsically connected to this particular conflict.
The work is therefore the apotheosis of an historical drama. And every single feature of the composition is in facts imbued with profound drama.
The work has a “palette” structure so to speak. In the central part of the canvas, along the lower rib, there is a square black material encrustation. This element is characterized by the features of a real chromatic and thematic container. It is, in some way, the palette, the source, the pictorial reservoir of the entire work. In this and from this well-defined area the dominant chromaticism that permeates the entirety of the available pictorial space is generated and spreads. Yellow, red, black. From this “Pandora’s box” the evil of the world literally flows. It is a profusion of evil. The bloodshed. Violence, which annihilates everything and devastates everything, in a blind hatred that spares nothing.
The work is intensely bloody. It is a work that drips blood.
The mortal remains of the victims are represented here through a graphic symbolism, typical of the author, which however, in this specific case, loses any dynamic connotation, any vitality, any movement and any quiver. These elements, white in color and in strong contrast with the dominant shades in the compositional structure, emerge here and there, in a disorderly manner, in the same way in which the remains of the victims of the massacre emerge from the earth that covers them. Almost a cry for revenge. The anti-narration. The anti-diegesis. Since the peculiar dynamism (or rather the “anti-dynamism”) of this composition finds expression in the aspect of death itself and in the immobility that is specific to it. Everything is at a standstill. Static. At the same time everything is denunciation. The cry of those who no longer have a voice but who, however, call for justice and do so in the only way they can: posthumously.
All that remains is to carefully observe this work, which touches us deeply, trying to assimilate its warning, where possible.
Looking at this painting is a bit like looking at ourselves, as part of a humanity that both generates and destroys. Izyum is “color” and “live” chronicle. It is the cold and clear narrative of the darkest breakdown of human relationships.
Other images of the work
(selecting an image will open the photo gallery for this work)
Catalog of works
(Selecting an image will take you to the Catalog of works section)
